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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZCAVANAUGH, Page (Trio)(b 26 January 1922, Cherokee KS; d 19 December 2008, Los Angeles) Pianist, singer, leader of the Page Cavanaugh Trio, one of the most popular nightclub acts in southern California for half a century. He began playing locally, moving to Los Angeles around 1940; he served in the military, where he formed the trio in 1943. The original members included Al Viola on guitar and Lloyd Pratt on bass. Their unison singing was an immediately recognizeable sound, and Cavanaugh wrote some of their novelty and jazz-inspired material. The trio's early recordings included 'When The Gooses Come Back To Massachusetts' and 'The Three Bears'. The trio appeared with Frank Sinatra at the Waldorf-Astoria in late 1946 and recorded with him; unfortunately the songs were novelties, not particularly well-chosen ('You Can Take My Word For It, Baby' and 'That's How Much I Love You') and the results sounded under-rehearsed. (But Viola became one of Sinatra's favorite guitarists.) The trio was heard on the radio on Jack Paar's NBC program and and many others. They appeared in several films, including Romance on the High Seas (Doris Day's first movie), Big City and A Song Is Born, all in 1948, the last with Danny Kaye, Virginia Mayo and a big-time all-star musical cast, and Lullaby of Broadway in 1951. The personnel later included Dave Porazzo on guitar and Jack Smalley on bass. A Capitol album called Fats Sent Me featured a sextet, The Page 7 on RCA Victor a septet. Later albums included Crazy Rhythm '95 on Cabaret (produced by Michael Feinstein), and the latest version of the trio, with Phil Mallory on bass and Jason Lingle on drums, released Return to Elegance in 2006. |